St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - CC Sabathia picked up his first win of the season as the New York Yankees hit five home runs in an 11-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
Sabathia (1-5) gave up four runs -- three earned -- on six hits while striking out nine and walking two over seven innings. The left-hander, who improved to 13-14 lifetime against Tampa Bay, earned his first victory since April 24, 2014.
Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley, Carlos Beltran, Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira all homered for the AL East-leading Yankees, who have won four of five. Teixeira went 4-for-5 with three runs scored.
"We swung the bats well," said Gardner. "CC pitched really well. I think everybody from top to bottom swung the bats well and came up with some big hits with guys on base."
Logan Forsythe and Joey Butler hit solo homers for the Rays, who fell to 1-6 against the Yankees this season. Forsythe went 3-for-4 with three RBI.
Alex Colome (2-1) allowed eight runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts over six innings. Ernesto Frieri gave up one run in the seventh and Erasmo Ramirez was touched for two runs over the final two frames.
"It seemed like they had a lot of good swings," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Sabathia kind of quieted us down basically until it was almost too late."
The Rays, who gave up 14 hits Monday, had gone a club-record 19 consecutive games allowing fewer than 10. Tampa Bay had also allowed five runs or fewer in 20 straight games.
In the top of the first inning, Rodriguez blasted career home run No. 662. He drilled a 2-1 fastball for a no-doubt solo home run to left-center field.
Sabathia struggled with his control in the bottom half, walking the first two batters. Both runners tagged up when Evan Longoria flied out to center. Forsythe followed with an RBI double to left-center field. On the play, Steven Souza Jr. was thrown out at the plate.
The Yankees tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Beltran and Teixeira singled before scoring on Headley's blast to right.
Beltran smacked a two-out solo homer in the fifth to make it 5-1 New York.
Sabathia retired 11 straight batters before giving up a one-out single to Asdrubal Cabrera in the home fifth. Tim Beckham then grounded into a double play.
Gardner joined the home run derby in the sixth. With two outs, Stephen Drew doubled and Didi Gregorius walked. Gardner then smacked a 2-0 pitch over the wall in center.
Headley added a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh, but the Rays responded with three runs in the bottom half. Forsythe and Butler hit back-to- back homers. Cabrera hit a one-out double, advanced to third on Chris Young's fielding error and scored on Beckham's sacrifice fly.
Forsythe's RBI single in the eighth cut the deficit to 9-5, but Teixeira hit a two-run homer off Ramirez in the ninth.
Game Notes
Colome was trying to become just the third Rays rookie to get the win in each of his first three starts to begin the season.
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